STAR Program Nomination Form

What is the Star Awards Program?

The Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI) is proud of its outstanding non-researcher staff members. They, along with TTI’s world-class researchers, have established the Institute as a premier transportation research agency.

The Star Awards Program was created to recognize the outstanding efforts of TTI’s non-researcher staff. The efforts of these outstanding individuals are often overlooked because they do not serve as principal investigators or researchers, and many are not eligible for awards or recognitions through professional associations.

The Star Awards Program is in addition to and does not affect the annual TTI Day Awards Program.

Who is eligible?

All TTI staff members are eligible for the Star Awards Program except those in Research Fellow, Research Engineer, Research Scientist and Researcher titles. If you have a question about an employee’s eligibility, please contact Lauren Othold in TTI Human Resources.

What are the award levels?

Star Recognition is the base level award. This award recognizes individuals who go above and beyond their everyday responsibilities to make significant contributions to their program and to the agency. There is no cap on the number of these awards that can be awarded annually and no years of service requirement.

Rising Star recognition is for individuals who have been with TTI for five years or less, go above and beyond their everyday responsibilities to make a significant contribution to their program and to the agency, and have also engaged in innovation (i.e., streamlining processes to be more efficient or accurate, implementing a new program, developing a database system for tracking program performance measures, etc.).

Super Star recognition is for individuals who have been with TTI for more than five years, go above and beyond their everyday responsibilities to make a significant contribution to their program and to the agency, and have also engaged in innovation (i.e., streamlining processes to be more efficient or accurate, implementing a new program, developing a database system for tracking program performance measures, etc.).

The number of Rising and Super Star awards combined will not exceed 10 percent of the number of Star recognized employees annually. For example if there are 83 Star awardees this year, then there will be no more than 8 total Rising and Super Star Awardees combined.

When do nominations take place?

Nominations will occur annually during the first two weeks of September. Winners will be selected by an anonymous committee appointed by the Star Steering Committee. Winners will be announced in November.

How do I nominate someone for the Star award?

Nomination for Star Award is simple! Access the Star Nomination Form anytime. Add a few sentences about why you are nominating that individual. If you decide you’d like to nominate this person as a Rising or Super STAR as well, then click the check box to indicate that you are nominating them for Rising or Super STAR and provide a few more sentences regarding the innovation these individuals have engaged in. Click submit! The Star Award Committee takes care of the rest!

How are STAR award winners recognized?

Nominees receive an e-mail notification congratulating them on the recent nomination. Program-wide celebrations will occur in November to recognize Star, Rising and Super Star winners. Star award recipients will receive a certificate. Rising and Super Star award recipients will receive a trophy and be invited to attend a celebratory luncheon.

Nomination Form

Star Program Nomination Form

Thank you for your participation! To nominate an employee for a Star award, please fill out this form .